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Saturday, July 1, 2017

Book Review: Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud

Author: Anne Helen Petersen

Publication Date: June 20, 2017

Publisher: Plume Books

From celebrity gossip expert and BuzzFeed culture
writer Anne Helen Petersen comes an accessible, analytical look at how female
celebrities are pushing boundaries of what it means to be an acceptable woman.

You know the type: the woman who won't shut up, who's too brazen, too
opinionated, too much. She's the unruly woman, and she embodies one of the most
provocative and powerful forms of womanhood today. In Too Fat, Too Slutty,
Too Loud, Anne Helen Petersen uses the lens of unruliness to explore the
ascension of pop culture powerhouses like Lena Dunham, Nicki Minaj, and Kim
Kardashian, exploring why the public loves to love (and hate) these
controversial figures. With its brisk, incisive analysis, Too Fat, Too
Slutty, Too Loud will be a conversation-starting book on what makes and
breaks celebrity today.

It would have to rattle the presumptions of
patriarchy, challenge the norms of femininity, occupy the heart of unruliness.
It would have to be the sort of gesture, argument, and gut punch that’s
historically come from an incredibly rare, and all the more valuable, sort of
female celebrity. A woman, in other words, like Madonna.

I spent the bulk of my adolescent life
internalizing the fact that girls who crossed that invisible line would become
pariahs: excised from their communities and families, unable to find work or
companionship.

It’s one thing to admire such abrasiveness and
disrespect for the status quo in someone else; it’s quite another to take that
risk in one’s own life.

My views on this book are very conflicting and
opinionated, so I am stating that up front. This book is essentially about a
handful of women that are defying what it means to be “accepted” and “adored”
as the model woman in society. Each chapter promotes a different woman who is “too”
something – too fat, too slutty, too strong, etc. While I love the way that the
chapters are setup, I do not love every woman that this book promotes. Some of
the women mentioned, like Melissa McCarthy, who is often criticized for being “too
fat”, are women I can really hang my hat on. I love what she stands for and how
she has defied all odds and made herself a successful movie star despite her
body type. However, some of the women promoted in this book are not women that
I want to follow in the quest to defy societal standards set for women. Women
like Kim Kardashian are not women I want to see leading the battlefront in a
fight for women’s rights.

However, that is solely my opinion and everyone is
entitled to one. The book is expertly written and the research Petersen
conducted in evident in each chapter as she catalogs each of these women and
their lives. Each chapter has a vibrant spirit about it and the author’s voice
absolutely shines through. The only issue that I had with the author was the
fact that she labeled herself as the typical red-blooded American woman: white,
straight, college educated, etc. It was hard for me to get behind someone who
was pushing so harshly for a change in the way women are viewed, but it didn’t
seem to me that she was adding to the fight – just writing about it. Again,
this is just my view on the matter. Her writing was superb and very easy to
follow and I would love to read more from this author.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by
the publishers at Plume in exchange for my honest review***

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1 comment:

About Me

My name is Chelsey and I am the creator of Charming Chelsey's! I read and review anything and everything that I find to be "charming."
I accept ARCs or already released books for review, and I'm also available to participate in any blog tours or book reveals too. If anything, please don't hesitate to email me any time for any reason at: charmingchelseys(at)gmail(dot)com